NA middle school gifted students express creativity through art

Gifted Art students at New Albany Middle School are altering books, recreating art masterpieces, building Picasso head through cubism, Dale Chihuly designs, painting still life, drawing, and are always finding more ways to express their creativity through artistic expression.

This class is only attended by students that made it through the audition process. The teacher is Julie Eaton and she teaches sixth, seventh, and eighth graders. Megan Wilson is an eighth grader in Eaton’s class and she just finished an assignment on altered books. She took a composition notebook and altered each page to express herself in various ways. She had a memory page, a page mostly composed of different song lyrics, she expressed her music interests, mostly with musician Adam Lambert, she expressed some of her memories, some of which was from childhood, and she showed what her goal in life is to be. That goal is to be a graphic designer. Wilson said, “I like doing this. It’s a different twist on scrapbooking. This project has really helped me improve in art. I practice until I am happy with it. I need art in my life.” Easton explained that art is important to her because of the problem solving aspect. “There’s so much problem solving and decision-making,” said Eaton. “You have a vision of what you want and you have to decide what you are going to have. I want my students to be problem solvers.” Alyssa Greer, sixth grader in Gifted Art, prefers watercolor, which is her favorite. She said, “It’s fun to do. I like to practice with different techniques. I also liked doing the op art. I like art because you get all of your feelings out in your drawings and it makes me smile.” Overton Johnson, sixth grader, said that he likes the portrait drawings the best. He draws in pencil and likes the realistic medium of art. “I like drawing. That’s what I do when I am mad. I draw cartoon characters out of comic books. You can take out all of your feelings in it and express how you feel,” said Johnson. Seventh grader Katie Davis’s favorite art mediums are watercolor and colored pencils. She said, “I am best at those and they are easy to work with. I like using pretty and bold colors. Gifted Art is the most fun class and we have a really cool teacher too. You can express yourself and go crazy with art instead of sitting in front of a desk all day.” Miller Dunnam, seventh grade, enjoys working in the abstract medium of art. “I liked working with origami and doing the still-life drawings of deer skulls. I think art is fun. You get to be creative and is a good form of expression.”